Merchandising arrangement utilizing a coded check

ABSTRACT

The invention concerns a merchandising arrangement in which a coded check is used. Upon the issuance of the check the code of the check is stored in a storage means. For obtaining purchased articles of merchandise the check is presented to a decoding means which sends a signal corresponding to the code to the storage means. If the storage means contains the code, the check is validated and the code is erased from the storage means. Random number generators and other features are disclosed to make the code unpredictable or not available to unauthorized personnel.

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Simjian 1 MERCHANDISING ARRANGEMENT UTILIZING A CODED CHECK Weir 340/147A Searle et al. 340/l49 A [76] lnventor: Luther G. Simiian 7 Laurel Ln.,

Greenwich, cOnn 06830 Primary ExammerDonald J; Yusko [22] Filed: Apr.13, 1973 ABS A T [21] Appl. No.: 350,902 [57] TR C The inventionconcerns a merchandising arrangement in which a coded check is used;Upon the issuance of 2% $5 "wg gf g the check the code of the check isstored in a storage d A l47/A. means. For obtaining purchased articlesof merchan. care 1 7 186 i B l dise the check is presented to adecodingmeans which sends a signal corresponding to the code to the storagemeans. If the storage means contains the code, the [56] Ref rences Cit de e check is validated and the code is erased from the UNITED STATESPATENTS storage means. Random number generators and other 3,560,7152/1971 vAkamatsu 235/61.8 R features are disclosed to make the codeunpredictable 3,590,333 6/1971 Blum 340/149 A or not available tounauthorized personnel. 3,634,656 1/1972 Krechmer ..'.235/6I.7 B3,691,527 9/1972 Yamamoto 340/149 A 4 Claims, Drawing Figures i"""'i i'rl" I STATION Viz 22 l 5 ENCODING 5 $3 333 32 7 CFO B A N l MEANS l fig5 5 :22: 1" INDICIA Mi 3 5 11-322. 5 ETRANSMITTAL 1 INPUT c A 1 l CONTROCHECK l 'fli'filfi gi-o RAE 3' (RANDOM 1 '4 NUMBER REiRD i GENERATOR) 11i DISPENSING i ERfsE l 'STATION 5 44 3'6 sis 44 42 g L E l i INDICIA 461 ARTICLE RELEASE ING INTERROGATION 1 STORAGE MEANS a 50 VALIDATION:VENDING i SIGNAL i o I I E CHECK 1 i 1 '1\ PAIENTEU I 61974 3.824.544

' sum 1 F 2 i""' "BY*MN-" FIG. 1 5 STATION i 22 I6 v N INDICIA 32 1 I ECODING 1 CODE BANK i I MEANS 1 REQUEST 0000 '"1 I I 0000 H 1 INDICIA- 1i 212; E i 'gTRANSMlTTAL i I n C INPUT 2o I V o INDICIA SIGNAL i CONTROLCHECK J: 40,. E I; SUPPLY STORAGE (RANDOM |4 '3 NUMBER RFZE-O-RD fLGENERATOMSEARCH "i ERASE DISPENSING STATION 1 I i 44 g 34 36 38 4,4 42l L DE'COD.. INDICIA ARTlCLE RELEASE |NG .INTERROGATION; STORAGE MEANS 1a 50 VALIDATION VENDING E CHECK 1 Ld FIG. 2

ARTICLE IDENTIFICATION 26 (QUANTITY, PRICE, TYPE) 28-- RANDOM lNolclACODE ,NABC STORE 24 ANYTOWN 46 F 3 VALIDATION SIGNAL 0 o N QEIE FDECODING T- L I42 VENDING MEANS PATENTEDJUL 1 61974 SHEET 2 OF 2 F IG.

. PAYMENT STATIONS CODE BANK MEANS DISPENSING STATIONS w E G E M G 05mmv TN A SA W E s L l A S v F o CONTROL s V V 6 4 m 5 L A T G mw I m M ND F NM m N B l R M L w L T TA 0 N A N o G D 8 RI. l R S L S E A a G o TV N 2 W. GS llluLwlll DNN WW2--- K .1 IA w? a MN S H 9 O C N l T 4 DIA.l S a 000m D 000D r l I l I I l l l 1 l MERCHANDISING ARRANGEMENTUTILIZING A CODED CHECK BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This inventionrelates to a merchandising arrangement and more specifically to one inwhich valuable articles of merchandise are sold and dispensed. Morespecifically, the instant arrangement involves a unique combination ofelements to lessen the pilferage of goods by inside sales personnel andcustomers.

It is well known that pilferageof articles of merchandise, particularlyshoplifting, amounts to staggering sums of money and has been stated tobe in excess of billion dollars per year in the U.S., see US. Pat. No.3,713,133 dated Jan. 23, 1973. Such losses are not only to the store,but also to the ultimate customer who in the end must pay for pilferedmerchandise by increased prices.

An incredible amount of effort is being spent to reduce the lossesarising from shoplifting by various means which include, inter alia, theprovision of uniformed guards, store detectives, closedcircuittelevision, mirrors, etc. In addition, various tags are known which areattached to articles and, unless the particular tag is removed by thecashier, an alarm is set off to indicate the theft of a respectivearticle as the person carrying such article passes through the exitdoor. However,

a the losses continue to mount depsite these valiant efforts. The lossesare particularly increasing with articles of merchandise that canreadily be carried out of a store by being concealed in pockets andbags, and which are in great demand. Typical of these items are, forinstance, the popular'tape casettes which are relatively small, yetrepresent a retail value of several dollars. It will be apparent thatthere are many other items of merchandise which fall into this category.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION In accordance with the broad principle of thepresent invention, a customer desiring to purchase an article will makehis selection from secured specimens or showcases and then proceed to, apayment station where a check in the form of a sales ticket is insertedinto encoding means. The check will contain such information as thearticle, a code number, price and other identifying data. The encodingmeans, in one embodiment, is connected to a code bank means which isinterrogated and supplies a respective code in the form of indicia tothe encoding means for encoding the check. Simultaneously, the indiciasupplied are stored also in the code bank means. The customer receivesthe check and carries the checkto a dispensing station which contains adecoding means. The dispensing station may be located at the exit fromthe store. The customer inserts the encoded check in the decoding meanswhich becomes actuated and interrogates the code bank means to ascertainwhether the code or indicia supplied previously is valid and stillstored in the storage means. If the code is valid and stored, avalidation signal is supplied to the decoding means which, in turn,supplies a release signal to the article vending means for permittingthe customer to receive the selected and previously paid for article.Concurrently, the previously stored code indicia are erased from thecode bank means so that the particular code is no longer available.Preferably, in the present embodiment the code bank means contains arandom number generator or a table of random numbers so that a largequantity of numbers is available for the many transactions which occurin a store and to provide that the particular numbers used are notpredictable or available in advance to unauthorized personnel.

Further and other embodiments of the present invention and its use inthe field of commerce will be more clearly apparent from the followingdescription.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagramshowing the several components forming one of the embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a check used in connection with thearrangement per FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram showing a variation of thearrangement shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram showing a plurality of payment anddispensing stations coupled to a code bank means, and

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of another modification';

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to the figures andFIGS. 1 and 2 in particular, numeral 12 identifies a payment station,which operates in combination with a dispensing station 14. Bothstations are coupled to a code bank means 16. The payment station 12 maybe located within the store at a convenient place in proximity to themerchandise to be sold, whereas the dispensing station 14 preferably isdisposed at the exit door from the store, or just outside the store orin the parking lot.

When a customer has selected one or more articles of merchandise whichhe wishes to purchase, he will not obtain possession of the particulararticle or articles at that time. Instead, he proceeds to the paymentstation where a check 20 is inserted in the encoding means 22. Thecheck, in a typical example see FIG. 2, is provided with a storeidentification and a store data 24, an article identification block 26for denoting therein quantity, price, type, stockv number and any otherdata a store may desire. In addition, an area 28 is reserved forencodingthe check with code indicia which render this check specific tothis specific purchase.

The check 20 is placed in the encoding means 22 and by means of an inputcontrol 30 a sales clerk or other person affixes the necessarymerchandise identification data to the check 20 and when this has beendone and before the check is released, the encoding means sends viaconductor 32 an indicia request to the code bank means 16. The code bankmeans contains as its principal components a control means 34, anindicia supply means 36 and a signal storage means 38 which includessignal recording, searching and erasing means. The storage means cancomprise magnetic disk storage or magnetic tape storage means. Theindicia supply means 36, in the preferred arrangement, comprises a tableof ramdom numbers or a random number signal generator in order toprovide a sequence of random numbers for each transaction, the numbershaving a preselected number of digits but being not predictable and notavailable to unauthorized personnel. In response to the indicia requesttransmitted by conductor 32, the code bank means is operated and thecontrol means 34 causes the indicia supply means to generate or toselect from storage a particular code, typically a five or six digitnumber. This code number is transmitted via conductor 40 to the encodingmeans 22 and is encoded on the check 20 at the location 28 of the check.Simultaneously, the same code number is supplied to the signal storagemeans 38 and stored therein, denoting the fact that this code number hasbeen issued. The portion 28 on the check 20 may be a magnetizableportion and the code in such a case is affixed by magnetic coding. Itshould be clearly understood, however, that other known techniques maybe used, such as affixing printed indicia, imprinting bar codes, apattern of dots and such other coding arrangements, visible orinvisible, as are known in the art.

When the code indicia supplied by the code bank means have been providedupon the check 20, the check 20 is released and issued to the customer.

The customer brings the encoded check 20 to the dispensing station 14which comprises a decoding means 42 and an article storage and vendingmeans44. Upon insertion of the check 20 into the decoding means 42, thedecoding means transmitsan indicia interrogation signal via conductor 44to the code bank means 16 to ascertain whether or not the coded indiciain block 28 is authentic, that is, whether the code signal is of theproper kind and whether the code is stored in the signal storage means38. If the validity of this code is established and if the code, forinstance the specific six digit number, is in storage, a validationsignal is supplied via conductor 46 to the decoding means 42.Simultaneously, the particular digit or code is erased from the signalstorage means 38 of the code bank means 16. Upon receipt of thevalidation signal along conductor 46 the decoding means 42 provides arelease signal along conductor 50 to the article storage and vendingmeans 44 for causing the vending of the selected article as indicated inthe block 26 of the check means 20, such article being made available ata chute 45 of the article storage and vending means 44.

A modification of the above described arrangement is shown in FIG. 3which discloses an article storage and vending means 144 containing aplurality of different articles in respective storage compartments 60,61, 62 and 63. The decoding means 142 supplies an article select signalto a control unit 70 which becomes conditioned to release one or more ofthe respective articles as encoded on the check 20 in the block 26.However, no article is released until the validation signal, conductor46, is supplied by the code bank means 16 to the control unit 70. Inthis manner, the validation signal from the code bank means acts as thefinal article release signal. It will be apparent that reset means arerequired, not shown, in the event that the validation signal does notarrive after interrogation in order to cancel the conditioning of thecontrol unit 70 which may have occurred responsive to the article selectsignal from the decoding means.

FIG. 4 discloses an arrangement suitable for larger stores which requirea plurality of payment stations 12A, 12B, 12C, 12D, etc. and which maycontain also a plurality of dispensing stations, such as stations 14A,14B and 14C. These payment stations and dispensing stations, whoserespective quantity may differ, are connected to a central code bankmeans 16 which can be located at a central location. The conductorsinterconwith the code bank means comprise ordinary communication lines,for instance, telephone lines as is well known in the art.

FIG. 5 depicts another arrangement wherein the code issuing means 80 isembodied in the payment station, being directly coupled to the encodingmeans 22. As before, the code issuing means, preferably, includes arandom number generator, a table of random numbers, etc. Upon theissuance of a random number which is applied to the check 20, a signalcommensurate with the issued code number is transmitted via conductor 82to the control means 134 which is coupled to a signal storage means 116.The article dispensing station operates as described previously. In thepresent embodiment each encoding means, if there is a plurality thereof,includes its own code issuing means.

Another embodiment comprises the use of precoded checks 20. Each checkwhen inserted in the encoding means for affixing article indentifyingdata thereupon is in position for having its code indicia sensed andtransmitted to the control means 134 and signal storage means 116, FIG.5. When the check is presented to the dispensing station aninterrogation signal is transmitted, conductor 44, and responsive to thepresence of the code indicia in the signal storage means 116 avalidation signal, conductor 46, is returned. Simultaneously, the codeindicia is erased in the signal storage means.

It will be apparent that the above method associates each check with aparticular code which is stored in a storage means during the time thatthe check has been issued and the article has been paid for, but thearticle has not been dispensed. Responsive to the dispensing of thearticle, the specific code is erased from the code bank means and in adesirable manner also from the check. When using random coding of thechecks, it is most difficult to fraudulently pre-code checks and usesuch checks for obtaining merchandise since it is not readilyascertainable to unauthorized personnel what code numbers or codes arecontained in the storage portion of the code bank means. Furthermore,the decoding means 42 may be equipped with provisions to retain checkswhose authenticity can not be established after two or three attempts,that is, either that the check in itself fails to be of a properauthenticity and/or the validation signal is not issued by the code bankmeans subsequent to sending the interrogation signal.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, the dispensing ofarticles of merchandise may be combined with inventory recording means.The interrogation signal transmitted along conductor 44, aside from thecode indicia, may be used also to transmit article data, such asquantity andtype, available from the check 20, block 26. The signalstorage means 38 includes inventory information storage means and.responsive to the generation of the validation signal the releasedquantity of articles is subtracted from the stored inventory count. 7

It will be apparent that the heretofore described arrangement is onewhich is characterized by extreme simplicity, yet provides importantsafeguards to forestall the theft of valuable merchandise.

What is claimed is:

l. A merchandising arrangement comprising:

A a payment station which includes:

A-l. encoding means for receiving a check adapted to be encoded with anidentifying code at a first location on the check and with a codedenoting an article of merchandise at a second location on the check,and A-2. input control means coupled to said encoding means for encodingthe check at said second location; B. a code bank means which includes:

B-l. code indicia generating means; B-2 code storage means, and B-3control means coupled to said indicia generating means and said storagemeans;

C a dispensing station which includes:

C-l. decoding means for receiving a check encoded at said paymentstation, and C-2. article storage and vending means;

D. means coupling said code bank means to said payment station forcausing responsive to the receipt of a check by said encoding means saidcontrol means to actuate said encoding means for encoding said check atsaid first location with code indicia generated by said indiciagenerating means, and to cause said code indicia to be stored in saidcode storage means; i

E. means coupling said dispensing station to said code bank means fortransmitting responsive to the receipt by said decoding means of a checkencoded at said encoding means an interrogation signal commensurate withthe identifying code at said first location to said code bank means and,responsive to the storage of such identifying code in said storagemeans, said control means causing the transmittal of a validation signalto said dispensing station for causing said dispensing station toprovide a release signal to said article storage and vending means foreffecting the vending of an article commensurate with the code at saidsecond location, and

F. erasing means coupled to said code storage means and operativeresponsive to the transmittal of said validation signal for causing saididentifying code to be erased from said storage means.

2. A merchandising arrangement as set forth in claim 1, said articlestorage and vending means including a plurality of compartments forstoring different kinds of articles.

3. A merchandising arrangement as set forth in claim 1, said check beingin the form of a card and including means for being encoded magneticall4. A merchandising arrangement as set forth in claim 1, said inputcontrol means comprising manually operable means.

1. A merchandising arrangement comprising: A a payment station whichincludes: A-1. encoding means for receiving a check adapted to beencoded with an identifying code at a first location on the check andwith a code denoting an article of merchandise at a second location onthe check, and A-2. input control means coupled to said encoding meansfor encoding the check at said second location; B. a code bank meanswhich includes: B-1. code indicia generating means; B-2 code storagemeans, and B-3 control means coupled to said indicia generating meansand said storage means; C a dispensing station which includes: C-1.decoding means for receiving a check encoded at said payment station,and C-2. article storage and vending means; D. means coupling said codebank means to said payment station for causing responsive to the receiptof a check by said encoding means said control means to actuate saidencoding means for encoding said check at said first location with codeindicia generated by said indicia generating means, and to cause saidcode indicia to be stored in said code storage means; E. means couplingsaid dispensing station to said code bank means for transmittingresponsive to the receipt by said decoding means of a check encoded atsaid encoding means an interrogation signal commensurate with theidentifying code at said first location to said code bank means and,responsive to the storage of such identifying code in said storagemeans, said control means causing the transmittal of a validation signalto said dispensing Station for causing said dispensing station toprovide a release signal to said article storage and vending means foreffecting the vending of an article commensurate with the code at saidsecond location, and F. erasing means coupled to said code storage meansand operative responsive to the transmittal of said validation signalfor causing said identifying code to be erased from said storage means.2. A merchandising arrangement as set forth in claim 1, said articlestorage and vending means including a plurality of compartments forstoring different kinds of articles.
 3. A merchandising arrangement asset forth in claim 1, said check being in the form of a card andincluding means for being encoded magnetically.
 4. A merchandisingarrangement as set forth in claim 1, said input control means comprisingmanually operable means.